ROBERT KEOHANE AND INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS DISCIPLINE: RESEARCH PROGRAMME, STATE AND INTERNATIONAL SYSTEM

Öz

Robert Keohane is one of the most important scholars of international relations discipline in terms of his contributions into the discipline through theoretical and conceptual contributions. In terms of the research programme, Keohane adopts rationalism and positivism. He thinks that reason with positivist research methods produces regular patterns in social science and in specific in IR and he expresses honestly in his works from the beginning what research programmes adopt. He brings severe criticisms against the new research programmes in IR, which he calls reflectivism. His views on state is very clear. Even though he is pioneer in bringing new actors to the IR in 1970s, he places state to the top and his explanations and analysis are centred on the state. More importantly, he considers domestic political system is important for change and cooperation in the international politics. However, he fails to analyse domestic politics. His international system is enlarged version of Kenneth Waltz’s international system. Keohane adds international regimes and existence of hegemon to Waltz’s system. In fact, he chooses to remain in the area of the realist school, focusing on the state and anarchy in the international politics apart from dependent on only positivist methods. Lastly, as Robert Cox put it rightly: “Theory is always for someone for some purpose”, Keohane’s efforts in IR aims to find alternative paths to political and economic order after the United States of America’s hegemony ends.

Anahtar Kelimeler

• Institutionalist Neoliberal Theory
• Rationalism
• Positivism
• International Institutions
• International Regimes
• Transnational Relations
• Complex Interdependence.

Öz

Robert Keohane, teorik ve kavramsal katkıları açısından uluslararası ilişkiler disiplininin en önemli akademisyenlerinden biridir. Araştırma programı açısından Keohane, rasyonalizm ve pozitivizmi benimsemekte olduğunu dile getirmektedir. Pozitivist araştırma yöntemleri açısından aklın sosyal bilimlerde ve özellikle Uluslararası İlişkilerde düzenli kalıplar ürettiğini belirten Keohane benimsediği yaklaşımı başından itibaren çalışmalarında dürüstçe ifade etmektedir. Uluslararası İlişkilerdeki yeni araştırma programlarına (reflectivist) karşı sert eleştirilerde bulunmaktadır. Keohane’nın devlet konusundaki görüşleri ise oldukça açıktır. 1970'lerde Uluslararası İlişkiler disiplinine yeni aktörler kazandırmada öncü olmasına rağmen, devleti en üste koymakta ve açıklamaları ve analizleri ile devlete odaklanmaktadır. Daha da önemlisi, uluslararası politikada değişim ve işbirliği için ülke içi siyasi sistemin önemli olduğunu düşünmektedir. Ancak iç siyaseti detaylı bir şekilde analiz etmemektedir. Keohane'nin uluslararası sistemi, Kenneth Waltz'un uluslararası sisteminin genişletilmiş bir versiyonudur. Keohane, Waltz'un sistemine uluslararası rejimleri ve hegemonyanın varlığını eklediği görülmektedir. Aslında, Keohane’nın yalnızca pozitivist yöntemlere bağlı kalmasının yanı sıra, uluslararası politikada devlet ve anarşiye odaklanarak realist ekolün sınırları içinde kalmayı tercih ettiği söylenebilir. Son olarak, Robert Cox'un da doğru bir şekilde ifade ettiği gibi: "Teori her zaman birileri için, bir amaç için vardır". Keohane'nin uluslararası ilişkiler alanındaki çabaları, Amerika Birleşik Devletleri'nin hegemonyasının sona ermesinden sonra siyasi ve ekonomik düzene alternatif yollar bulmayı amaçladığını ileri sürmek yerinde olacaktır.

Kaynakça

1. Cox, Robert, W., “Social Forces, States, and World Orders: Beyond International Relations Theory”, Robert W. Cox with Timothy J. Sinclair, in Approaches to World Order, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1986. Gill, Stephen, “Epistemology, Ontology, and the ‘Italian School’”, Stephen Gill (ed.), in Gramsci, Historical Materialism and International Relations, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1993.
2. Goldstein, Judith, and Keohane, Robert O., “Ideas and Foreign Policy: An Analytical Framework” in J. Goldstein and Robert O. Keohane (eds), Ideas and Foreign Policy: Beliefs, Institutions and Political Change, Cornell University Press, Ithaca and London, 1993.
3. Keohane, Robert O., and Nye Joseph S., “Transnational Relations and World Politics: An Introduction”, in Robert O. Keohane and Joseph S. Nye Jr. (eds.), Transnational Relations and World Politics, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1972.
4. Keohane Robert O., and Nye, Joseph Jr., “Transnational Relations and World Politics” in Robert O. Keohane and Joseph Jr. Nye, Transnational Relations and World Politics, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, 1974.
5. Keohane, Robert O., After Hegemony: Cooperation and Discord in the World Political Economy, Princeton University Press, Princeton, 1984.
6. Keohane, Robert O., “Realism, Neorealism and the Study of World Politics”, in Robert O. Keohane (ed.), Neorealism and Its Critics, Columbia University Press, New York, 1986.
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